The Best Songs By Villains

Disney movies in particular have produced some great musical numbers. The most memorable parts of any animated (and live action) movies are the songs.  Personally, I was always drawn to the evil songs. Maybe it’s because the first movie I ever saw in theaters was The Little Mermaid when I was three years old. That movie has one of the best villain songs ever. The scary songs made an impression on my sweet little soul and turned it into a poor unfortunate soul.

Poor Unfortunate Souls by Ursula

I used to refer to Ursula as “the water wee” when I was 3. That roughly translates to “the water witch”. She was a witch, when you think about it. She could cast spells, transform, and she had a caldron for crying out loud! In her song, she explains to Ariel what she does for a living—she basically grants people wishes and asks for payment that she knows the other party cannot give. So she ends up turning them into these seaweed things. It’s pretty messed up.

I love the idea of Ursula though. She has the personality of a crazy grandma. And the body of a crazy grandma, actually. Ariel and most of the underwater population are merfolk and Ursula is part octopus which is terrifying. The best line in the song is said when Ursula is trying to convince Ariel to take the deal of having a human body, but not being able to use her voice:

“You’ll have your looks, you’re pretty face! And don’t underestimate the importance of body language!”

Kill the Beast! By Gaston and the Village People (omg someone name their band that)

Gaston was never super scary. He was good looking, so what was there to be afraid of? But let’s be real—no French man has ever looked like Gaston. He wanted the kill Beast because Belle had been locked in his castle for too long. She came home to see her father and brought a magic mirror to see the Beast. And I guess that freaked Gaston out? See, if I was part of the village I would’ve been like, “Yo Belle looks fine to me, and she’s been living in a castle…sooo I think she’s better off than the rest of us.”

Gaston gets everyone riled up and decides that the Beast needs to die because he’s dangerous. I love the line in the song that says, “We don’t like what we don’t understand and in fact it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least.”

Playing with the Big Boys by Hotep and Huy

This scene is actually from Dreamworks’ The Prince of Egypt. This movie didn’t get enough street cred as far as I’m concerned. All the other songs in the movie made me want to live in ancient Egypt and this one made me super scared for some reason.

Moses comes to Ramses for like the millionth time asking him to let his people go. To prove that he was a prophet of God, Moses’ staff turned into a snake. In this song, Ramses’ go-to men use their magic to produce the same effects and try to tell Moses to back off. They list all their Egyptian gods and it’s super creepy. Keep an eye out for the shorter character doing the “walk like an Egyptian” dance. PS. Moses is super cute in this scene.

We Are Siamese by Those Skank Siamese Cats

I almost can’t watch this musical number because it gives me so much anxiety. These two cats single-handedly cause Lady to wear a muzzle, and be thrown in the pound. It’s all because of them.

Lady’s owners go away for a while and leave her in the care of their next door neighbor or someone like that (does it really matter?). The woman doesn’t like dogs to begin with. How can you not like dogs? She brings her tag-team Siamese cats into the house and they cause an immense amount of trouble. Lady gets blamed for it all. Super sad times.

Hellfire by Judge Claude Frollo

There are many songs in The Hunchback of Notre Dame that illustrate how gross Frollo is, but most of them are complied of many other singers as well. It’s not a true villain song if the villain isn’t the lead singer.

Hellfire is creepy because it’s basically Frollo saying how he’s tempted by the gypsy, Esmeralda. He hates her and he loves her and decides that if he can’t have her, no one can. So he pretty much burns down Paris to find her. Normal reaction.

Usually churches can give off a spiritual, holy feeling, but this song shows the creepiness that can be attached to members of the church that are totally psycho.

Do you have any favorite songs by villains?